Boston stuck on 17
Boston lost a game on Wednesday to a blown layup and another on Thursday to a banked-in three. It doesn’t matter who did what, the Celtics are 18-21 and a game out of the play-in tournament, directly behind the Knicks, bing, bong.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are Actually Fine. Only 23 and 25 and due to get older.
Two 25-point scorers on a team featuring a rookie coach who prepared for this gig for years, that’s a recipe for good vibes and yet yer C’s are still only 3-10 in contests decided by five points or less, blowing TO THE KNICKS a game they led 57-32:
Ime Udoka on TNT:
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) 2:30 AM ∙ Jan 7, 2022
"Get our composure back. Got it? It's self-inflicted. Take care of the ball. Self-inflicted. ... Weather the storm, get your heads up and go on a run ourselves."
Players sometimes react positively to coaching changes. Less warming is the rare instance when the coach moves upstairs to run the team.
C’s president Brad Stevens admitted between the back-to-back losses that these Celtics “have a lot to fix.” His roster is lucky to be top 20 in offense, Ime Udoka somehow has this club top-eight defensively with Dennis Schröder leading things, even with Tatum out there dropping IOUs.
Danny Ainge’s last two rookies — guard Payton Pritchard and swing Aaron Nesmith — shoot 35 percent from the floor. Carsen Edwards is in the minors and wherever Romeo Langford goes next, make sure he leaves the ball so that we can keep playing.
